1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical-scanning examination apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
In the related art, the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-344777 (FIG. 1, etc.) is a known example of this type of optical-scanning examination apparatus.
This optical-scanning examination apparatus includes a scanning laser microscope formed of a fluorescence microscope, an optical fiber bundle one end of which is disposed at the focal plane of a first objective lens in this scanning laser microscope, and a second objective lens disposed so that the other end of this optical fiber bundle serves as a light source therefor.
With this optical-scanning examination apparatus, the end of the optical fiber functions as a confocal pinhole, and fluorescence is produced at the focal position of the second objective lens by the laser light focused thereat. This allows the internal structure of a living organism to be determined.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-344777 also discloses a confocal scanner in which a focusing disk and a pinhole disk are connected and rotationally driven with a motor. By using this confocal scanner, a plurality of spots are scanned on the specimen simultaneously, which enables confocal images to be acquired at high speed.
However, the optical-scanning examination apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-344777 uses a single pinhole disk including a fixed-type confocal pinhole or a predetermined pinhole pattern. Therefore, the region that can be examined is restricted to an extremely thin region in the depth direction below the surface of the living organism. As a result, this apparatus suffers from the drawback that it is difficult to detect or focus on the examination site. To overcome this drawback, a plurality of confocal pinholes or pinhole disks are prepared, and they can be replaced. However, this results in the drawback that the ease-of-use is reduced and the operation becomes cumbersome. Also, in some cases it may be preferable to obtain bright fluorescence images from deep within the object under examination, even though the resolution is low.